The CARICOM Single Market and Economy was significantly advanced as regional Attorneys-General and Ministers of Legal Affairs approved and commended for signature by the Conference of Heads of Government, three Protocols amending the Treaty establishing the Caribbean Community. The Instruments_ Protocol IV - Trade Policy; Protocol VI - Transport Policy, and Protocol VII - Disadvantaged Countries, Regions and Sectors, are expected to be signed at the Twentieth Meeting of the Conference to be convened in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in July 1999.
A range of matters including progress towards the implementation of a CARICOM Single Market and Economy, and the Regional Transformation Programme for agriculture are among items on the agenda of the Sixth Meeting of the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) which got underway on 4 June, 1999 in Georgetown, Guyana.
The Sixth Meeting of the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) will be held at the Secretariat's headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana from 4-5 June, 1999.
The two-day meeting of Regional Ministers responsible for trade and or economic matters will focus on a range of issues including those pertinent to agricultural development, the trade in goods and services, external trade and economic relations, and regional standards.
Another batch of civil servants from regional governments is in Martinique attending a six-week training course in French, concluding June 4 next.
The training courses sponsored by the Government of France have been mounted annually since 1993 with 49 persons being trained so far.
Funding for the programme of French language training is provided by the Government of France through its regional co-operation fund for the Caribbean .
French embassies in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Saint Lucia administer the fund.
Three more scholarships have been awarded to CARICOM nationals, graduates of the University of the West Indies, to pursue post-graduate studies at universities in Chile.
This year the Government of Chile, through its Agency for International Co-operation of Chile (AGCI), has awarded three scholarships to UWI graduates. Hulda Peters of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is on a six-month scholarship to study for a diploma in Agribusiness Management at INACAP, a leading agricultural college in that South American country.
The Second Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) was held in Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis on 13-14 May 1999.Â
Your Excellency, Dr. Sir Cuthbert Sebastian, Governor General,
Your Honour Mr. Eustace John and Mrs.John,
Members of Cabinet,
Honourable Secretary General, Mr. Edwin Carrington,
Distinguished Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean Community and Heads of Delegations,
Mr. Speaker, Hon. Walford Gumbs and other Members of the Legislature,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Members of Delegations,
Ms. Dorethea Hector, Permanent Secretary and other public officers,
Members of the Press,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Rt Hon Sir James Mitchell will urge his colleague Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) "to act soon to finalise proposals" to put forward to the European Union (EU) in respect of the changes to the EU's Banana Regime following the ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
A wide range of issues relating to the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSM&E) will come under the microscope in at least three Member States of the Caribbean Community in May.
In a series of consensus building exercises, officials from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat's Programme on the Single Market, the Technical Action Services Unit (TASU) and the Communications Unit will meet with public and private sector officials in Saint Lucia, Dominica and Belize starting in May 1999.
I would like to begin by expressing my appreciation to the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) for the honour of having selected me as its 1999 "Caribbean Roving Ambassador". This has confirmed what my wife has long thought of my perpetual travelling.